It is very easy for upper-middle class white kids to think that racism is no longer a problem within the United States of America. With sheltered neighborhoods, and strong college-prep public schools, for these kids, life is fair, and they do not have the slightest inclination of being targeted by any type of police. But, for those who are not as fortunate, racism is real, and it is strong. The United States police departments have shown a strong pattern of systemic, and institutionalized throughout all of modern history. The coldblooded murders of: Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Phillando Castille, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Sandra Bland, and many others who have lost their lives, had to see first-hand that engraved racism is still very prevalent today. No longer can people stay silent, for silence gives hate its power. Social justice warriors, such as those in the Black Lives Matter Movement have started to bring light upon the issue of police brutality towards African Americans. Black Lives Matter protests against the unjust treatment of African Americans by police, and it has sparked a lot of conversation, it is gaining a following. Much like the BLM movement, other artists have taken this issue into their own hands. For example, T.I, an outspoken rapper, and black rights activist, has taken this issue to heart and decided to dedicate a music video towards to the killings of three different, un-armed, innocent black men, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner, and Phillando Castille. T.I dedicates his music to these social issues in a way that no artist has before. He directly confronts the problem and shows what is happening. This is especially important because the first step to correcting a social problem is awareness. T.I uses race reversal within his music video “Warzone,” placing innocent white people in the target of aggressive black police, to show the engraved and institutionalized racism within the United States of America’s police department. This pattern of hate can be traced back through the United States history. It is extremely important to remember where the country was around 60 years ago during the Civil Rights Movement of 1962. The country was fighting for many of the same things BLM is fighting for today: equal opportunity, the right to not be racially profiled, and to live in peace. The Black Lives Matter movement is a civil fight for equality that will be taught about throughout Social Studies classes 40 years from now.  T.I, and stars like him are especially important to BLM to deliver awareness to all communities that may not necessarily be able to access to these types of subjects.  T.I not only uses race reversal to attack police brutality head on in his music video “Warzone,” but he also confronts the United States patterns of racism for centuries while raising awareness on how to correct the problem.  

Police brutality has formed itself into a vicious cycle, and that is largely due to the socioeconomic structure of the United States of America. What class, ethnicity, neighborhood, or even street one is born into has a large determination on the way one is going to interact with police. A suburban white teenager for example most likely has never talked to a cop other than that one time they were smoking weed in a park. Whereas a kid with the same ethics, morals, and academics, only he is black could be walking down the street in the city, and because of his race, he will be targeted by police. This has been proven to be true. The most supporting cause to this claim is the short-lived “stop-and-frisk” policy. Stop-and-frisk was deemed unconstitutional because it allowed police officers to systemically target POC in order to meet a quota mandate given by local police precincts. While stop-and-frisk was a terrible idea, and was the reason racism was allowed to run so rampantly in New York City’s police department, due to the deemed unconstitutional nature of stop-and-frisk, it allowed Washington to talk about police brutality, and take a step to fix it (Margolin).

The reversal of race, is more significant than skin color, it directly changes the way the audience of the music video perceives the aggression of cops. T.I’s goal is a perspective shift on police brutality. T.I employs race reversal in order to enlighten people about what is actually going on in the United States’ African American community. The reversal of races in “Warzone” goes against most white viewers preconceived notions on African Americans, and that is the what T.I wants. Throughout the United States, racism has stayed extremely prevalent not gone away as many would like to believe. and Many in the country still have an institutionalized and engrained fear of African Americans, even though many of those people have never had an altercation, or sometimes even and interaction with an African American male.  The reversal of race changes this bias, it shows you exactly what happened in a way many people can feel more sympathy for, as sad as that may be. The first scene where race reversal is especially important is the first shooting, based off of Tamir Rice at 1 minute 30 seconds into the video. Tamir Rice was a 12-year-old boy shot for having a toy gun in a park. The officer who shot Rice claimed he saw the boy “pick up an object, and stick it in his waistband” (Newsome). This resulted in the officer thinking he was in danger, and Rice was killed. This biased, illegitimate fear which caused Rice’s death stems directly from the institutionalized racism embedded within our police departments and its officers. Not only does this spew hate, but it also produces fear, which is even more dangerous. Because when an officer is scared, they are quick on the trigger finger. At 1:30, where TI has the “reversed” Tamir Rice shot, he says “were living in a warzone, of course you don’t know when you’re living in it” (TI) should speak volumes to Caucasian people all over the United States. for never have I met a white person fearful to go to a park, or fearful to walk down the street in fear of being shot by those who swear to protect and serve. The implication that life for African American people live their lives in a warzone is a strong statement, but it has validity. POC have to live in fear of being killed by those in charge, the police. That is the definition of a police state, and how consequentially POC are forced to live. 

The second scene where race reversal is very important is at 2:25, the reversed scene based off of Eric Garner. Garner was stopped for selling untaxed cigarettes, which resulted in his death by a choke hold which turned into an altercation, which ended in Eric Garner being choked to death by the police officer that stopped him. This incident is particularly disturbing because Garner’s death was recorded by a pedestrian with a cell phone. Garners his death has been displayed all over the internet because of how chilling, and evil his murder was Garner tells the police officer that he cannot breathe, but that does not stop him from continuing to choke him to death. While Garner was literally being strangled to death by a police officer, you can hear him say “I can’t breathe,” (Baker) which makes the actions of the officer all the more disturbing. This call for help is likely the root for T.I’s chorus played throughout the song “hands up, can’t breathe.” (T.I) It is to spread justice for Garner. The reversal of race for Eric Garner puts perspective on the murder, making it seem possible that someone’s suburban, white uncle from New York could get killed for absolutely no reason.

The BLM movement, and those in it like T.I have preached time and time again a solution to at least start addressing and correcting harassment, attacking, and murdering of innocent black men, and women at the hands of their local police officers. The first step is ensuring body cameras are rolling at all times without exception, which has started (thruthout). The second and more important step is to better equip and educate cops. First of all, cops should be trained in racial social norms, and how to react when a POC does something an officer is not accustomed to (truthout). The first instinct should never be to reach for their gun, instead rather react with their brain. Increased and more extensive training in this field for all police officers is vital for change. Thirdly, non-lethal weapons need to be more accessible, and given proper training for all police officers (truthout). This is a simple solution that can change how communities of African Americans interact with police. T.I asks in his song “Is it because of my sneakers? Is it because of my jersey?” (“Warzone”). And they are valid questions to ask. This question directly correlates with the BLM by addressing a pattern of racial profiling placed upon African American males for being themselves and having that turn into a problem. Another solution BLM is demanding for an end to for-profit policing, which is “[m]inority populations are often the target of quotas or fines that aren't applied evenly to Caucasians. To fix this, end evaluating officers' performances based on quotas of how many tickets they issue or arrests they make” (truthout). This is a simple solution that will change how police officers look at their jobs, and it return will make all parties involved safer. 

No longer can anyone in the United States stay silent against what is going on in our African American communities. The key to the first step to achieving change is being heard. The list of murdered, innocent black young men continues to grow every month. It is imperative that everyone speak up, especially celebrities. “Warzone” is such an important music video, because it is revolutionary in civil rights progress. T.I uses his fame to inform the public of what is going on in his community. It seems as if shootings of innocent black men have become something close to normal within the United States, that needs to end. Communities need to rally together, and advocate for change and police reform. As communities rally together to protest against unjust treatment, the movement has grown in both recognition and power. More celebrities, black and white seem to be coming out in public support for BLM, and that is extremely important. T.I’s music video is revolutionary. because It is one of very few popular music videos that does not sugarcoat the problems going on,. T.I is direct and makes his point very clear: police brutality is real, and innocent people are dying because of it.
